Reign in Hell
by MaggieCurrie
Summary: The Underworld is brewing with trouble and Raven has been dragged into the power struggle. Forced into a tight situation after bargaining for her friend's soul, will she come out of it a winner or will she succumb to her dark nature? [on hiatus because I work full-time now]
1. Down the Rabbit Hole

**Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit Hole**

It was the end of a long week for the Titans. Frankly, what recently happened nearly tore the team apart again. Fingers were pointed, trust was misplaced. They had lost another friend, lost the trust in another teammate which seemed to be a tragically recurring theme in their run as Teen Titans.

A fight with certain special forces revealed that their teammate Bombshell had lied to them all along and was the real traitor their old mystic friend warned was in their midst *(1).

Through the loss of one friend, the Teen Titans gained back an old gem. Raven whom the Titans lost after her apparent death, finally returned in the flesh. Her unfinished business which kept her away from the Titans after her revival, had been finished; she brought dear Jericho back to the land of the living. The Titans were now a complete family again, so she thought.

In truth, the Teen Titans were not yet in a peaceful place. Though, anyone would doubt that the Titans would ever find peace. In their line of work, peace was out of the question.

Although a week had passed since rejoining the Titans, Raven was still avoiding Kid Devil, Eddie Bloomberg because of his uncanny resemblance to her infernal father. She found it hard to remember every time she bumped into him in the tower, that he wasn't Trigon. Despite her apologies and explanations, Eddie still couldn't help but feel disliked. The air was undeniably electric when they were near each other. The last thing he needed was to be disapproved of by a long-time Titan member when he had thus far only fumbled and made fundamentally silly mistakes in front of the other Titans.

Today, Eddie was plating a few slices of cold pizza from the refrigerator when he saw the caped girl in the corner of his vision. He turned around and pushed a goofy smile as if to check if they were cool.

Raven paused and felt a stone in her throat before swallowing and managing to say "Hey Eddie", which was a vast improvement in casual speech for her. Casual should help put the kid at ease. It would help her shake the image of her father as well.

Kid Devil put forward his plate of cold pizza and asked if she would like a slice, to which she shook her head. She was there to make a cup of tea. Kid felt his failure piling up. Being rejected even for offering a slice of pizza? Who could turn away pizza?

He slowly walked out of the kitchen with his head down as Raven got her herbal grounds and hot water ready. Staying to eat his pizza there in the same room would have been too intense even for laid-back Eddie Bloomberg. Raven was intense.

About half an hour after the awkward encounter with the mysterious girl in the kitchen, Eddie decided that he would talk to Raven about the strange space between them and hopefully make things right with the Titans for once.

He knocked twice on the door to her room, and the door gave slightly. Eddie was mortified for a second. What if he made the impression that he just barges in without waiting for permission? To his relief, there was no immediate response. Cautiously, he called her name and gingerly pushed the door open a little more.

There sank Raven on her bed, face leaning lightly on a stranger in a costume who stood beside the bed.

Judging from Raven's lack of response to Eddie's entrance, it seemed she was likely unconscious.

The masked man stretched out his right hand, wrapping his left arm around Raven and pulling her close to his chest. A rift opened through the room.

The stranger was clearly abducting her, and it didn't take a trained Titan to figure that out. Eddie leapt across the room and managed to grab Raven's ankle just before the stranger pulled her completely through the rift.

Before the stranger could stop Kid Devil, the three of them had crossed over to another dimension already.

Eddie wondered where the hell they were. And well, they were in hell.

* * *

 ** _Footnote:_**

 ** _(1) See Teen Titans (volume 3) #40 (December 2006)_**

 _ **Author's note:**_

 ** _The title references the Reign in Hell comic but has little else to do with the plot._**

 ** _This story is set in Earth Delta of the DC Multiverse (an alternate world). i.e. you can assume that the discrepancies from any of the Teen Titans formats (Cartoon, Comic, movie) are intentional and are the way they are on Earth Delta._**


	2. A Cold Day in Hell

**Chapter 2: A Cold Day in Hell**

The masked stranger grunted as the three of them landed on the ground with a thud. He got up quickly and brushed himself off, before pointing an energy-charged fist at Kid Devil.

"You're not supposed to be here." said the masked stranger with a hint of fury in his voice.

"And you weren't supposed to kidnap Raven" retorted Eddie, who quickly got on his feet and stood tall against the energy-charged fist pointed at him.

"Tch. I'll just have to deal with the extra dead weight then" said the stranger.

Kid Devil demanded to know what the stranger was planning to do, to which the stranger replied "We'll have to wait for Raven to wake up before we go anywhere. And as for my plans, do you really expect me to reveal them to you like an idiot?"

Eddie shrugged his shoulders, unsure about what to do in the situation.

The stranger continued "but I will tell you what we are going to do. We're going to see Neron about some business with your little black bird here."

Eddie was alert now. What did Raven have to do with Neron? Does she know anything about his deal with that devil? And did Neron possibly know that he won the bet because he did lose faith in Blue Devil? Now that he's going to meet the demon he made a deal with and lost against, could following Raven have been a mistake? Many questions raced through his panicking mind. Eddie didn't expect for his gig to end so soon; he barely got to showcase his powers right in a good fight. Putting his soul on the line wasn't that much of an urgent consequence in his mind when he made the deal, because such was Eddie Bloomberg the desperate fool.

His thoughts then moved to escape. Kid Devil gained teleportation abilities amongst other things through his bargain with Neron, but he had never teleported out of hell before. That wouldn't stop him from trying for the first time.

Kid Devil summoned the energy within himself and strained the muscles in his body, to open a portal. Nothing. He strained and took another deep breath to try harder.

"What are you doing?" asked the stranger. His awareness stopped Eddie in his tracks. He didn't think about the consequences of trying to escape, only to fail. Eddie felt tensed now, not from his own effort but by the stranger's eerie stare.

"If you're trying to get out of here, you don't bother. Because you can't. Only a few supernatural beings have the power to come and go from hell when they want to. If it was so easy for demons or... you to get out of hell, then there wouldn't be any reason for hell to exist."

The stranger had a point. Now Eddie could only stare at the prickly walls for inspiration. If there was anyone who could get them out of there, it was Raven who was knocked out for the moment. Raven was the actual one with powers of any consequence, considering she's told him time and time again that her father is Trigon the Terrible, some powerful inter-dimensional demon or something.

"What did you do to her?" Eddie asked.

"I spiked her tea with some special herbs and a little bit of some dampening elixir. She should be out cold for another half hour before being awake enough to walk, but weak enough not to use her powers for a few hours"

At times like these, Eddie wished his magician friend Zachary Zatara was beside him, although they did almost get eaten by the Phantasm the one time they teleported to New Azarath. At least, Zach had more knowledge about the occult than Eddie had despite himself.

They waited in near-silence apart from Eddie's occasional humming. Raven looked almost comfortable. It was the first time Eddie had seen her so… lax.

The stranger broke the silence for a while, lamenting about how familiar Kid Devil looked.

Eddie proudly introduced himself as Kid Devil, former sidekick to Blue Devil.

Soon enough, Raven moved and the stranger motioned to help her upright. Eddie felt unnecessary and just stood there. Raven hung onto the stranger in her sleepiness before she realised who he was.

"You... you're Kyd Wykkyd. It's been a while since you attacked me." she managed to say, before her knees gave way. Raven recalled the time Kyd ambushed her T-pod as she was on her way to aid some other honorary Titans. That was when the Brotherhood of Evil launched a crippling assault on the collective Teen Titans.

Kyd motioned for Kid to help him prop Raven up. Eddie wasn't sure what to feel about having an almost similar name to the supposed villain who was doing more for Raven than Kid Devil could think to do at the moment.

"Hnggg where are we going?" asked a half-asleep and very weak Raven.

Kyd Wykkyd replied with a short "to see Neron,"

Raven was too weak to protest, and so just hung stiffly onto the two boys supporting her.

Kyd continued "he took my mother, and told me to bring you to him if I wanted her back safe". At the mention of his mother being in trouble, Raven pushed aside any animosity towards her nemesis. Someone was in danger and their safety depended on Raven's presence. Of course she would go.

"Can you walk?" asked Kyd.

Raven struggled to plant her feet on the ground, but sank back onto the two boys' shoulders.

"Kid, we'll have to carry her until we reach the Infernal Provinces" said Kyd to Kid.

"How far away is that?" Kid asked.

"In this part of hell, things aren't that far away. This is a small principality. We'll head half a mile up that way then cross a river to where the main gate to the Infernal Provinces are"

"Dude, hold up, how are we supposed to carry her across a river?"

"We pay the ferryman. There's always a boat to ferry the deceased across the river to hell. Like the ones on the River Styx. And Sanzu."


	3. Come Hell or High Water

Being a big talker, Kid Devil struck up too much conversation on their way to the Infernal Provinces. Eddie wasn't used to silence, but Kyd Wykkyd was practically the embodiment of silence, speaking only when necessary. And if a hero could see eye to eye with their foes, this time Raven was very much on Kyd's side of the fence, leaving Eddie the odd one out. In a way, he was a kind of personal hell for the quiet two. But they knew Hell too well to know that it wasn't something you could compare anything to.

Eddie was taking in the sights like a tourist and mentioned how this all reminds him of his accidental trip to New Azarath with his friend Zach. Raven made a comment about hearing from the Phantasm about how it scared off two teenaged intruders. Though Raven smirked on the inside at her snarky comment, it had the effect of making Eddie feel worse, to her secret regret.

Still, Kid Devil relentlessly commented on how weird the place was, like how different the pier was compared to where they started out. The cavernous dome where they first landed was strangely cold and dark but here on the estuary, the air was unbearably hot as you would expect hell to be.

By this time, Raven had recovered enough of her strength to stand on her own two feet but would rather have been knocked out cold the whole time to save herself from Eddie's endless chatter.

"Kid Devil, I'm going to need you to keep very quiet, and hold your head down when we get on the boat. The boat will start to sink if we're not full enough with dread. The burning hell water is not something you or any of us want to sink into. No one ever gets back up." said Raven, stoppering Kid Devil's mouth for the time being.

"How do you know about all this stuff, Raven?" questioned an amazed Kid Devil.

"I've been here a few times before."

"Oh"

Raven replied with a short "Yes", coldly ending the conversation right there and then.

Kyd Wykkyd forced away the smile that was beginning to form on his face. He hadn't said a word since they left the cold dome, much less added any fodder to the conversation. High-fiving the enemy was out of the question.

Back at Titans Tower, Cyborg needed to see the mistress of magic about helping him update the Titan Database on supernatural occurrences and criminals. The half robot checked the common areas and tried knocking on Raven's door, to no answer. She would most likely show up at dinner time in a couple hours, so Cyborg held off the request and shrugged.


	4. Looks can be Deceiving

_**Author's notes: Hello and thank you for reading this far. I apologise for the slow movement in the last two chapters, but they were quite necessary because I didn't want to jump straight to action without any narration. And I also wanted to link some of the leads that were left unexplored in the comics, like how Raven had to adjust to having Kid Devil on the team. I wanted to develop Kid Devil a little more, by elaborating on his resemblence to Trigon, and his faux-demonic status and the link with Azarath and ultimately with Raven. We're done with that now.**_

 _ **This is where things should start getting interesting!**_

* * *

"Kid Devil, before we go through these doors, you should know that Neron is one of hell's darkest demon lords. He is the Lord of Lies for a reason, and he _will_ take any opportunity to tempt you into entering a deal with him." Raven told Kid Devil. "Do not speak to him unless he speaks to you and even when he does, say as little as possible. _Do not_ give him any leads to use against you." she said again, gravely.

Raven's advice was meant more to keep Kid Devil out of Neron's radar, not so much to shut him up, but it had the latter effect as well. His face warped into an expression of gloom and worry now.

Eddie swallowed hard, unsure how to break it to her that he had already made a deal with Neron before he joined the Titans, that in fact he made the bargain so he could gain powers in order to join the Titans in the first place.

The two captives held their breaths as they took another look at the entrance to the Infernal Provinces. They were filled with enough anxiety and dread now that they would have made another trip across the river of fire without a hitch. By now, Raven had recovered enough of her strength to teleport out of there, but thought better of it. Neron had a hostage she wasn't willing to risk endangering.

The heavy gates swung open slowly. Two Herculean soldiers in full-faced metal helmets stepped up front with their fists tightly balled up on their chests, save for forefingers and pinkies standing out, as if in salute to Kyd Wykkyd. Raven guessed the reason being they were fairly formal guards who were expecting him, but it could also be because he was someone important in this realm.

Raven smirked at the thought of that. A cuddly moth-like villain like Kyd was unlikely to be of much standing in the nether realms. But she would not put it past him either. Lucifer was an angel before his fall from grace, and Azar knows demons don't always look monstrous.

They entered the main hellish castle, and were led down a dungeon-like walkway to the Chamber of Consignment. One would not expect hell to be so well organised but hell was also a prison for the damned, with beings to rule over them. Hell has its kingdoms, albeit kingdoms of the damned. Here, the Infernal Provinces were Neron's domain.

The Chamber was cold, dark and murky, much like the dome they landed in when they reached the underworld earlier. Here, the walls were much more cave-like, with its walls ridged and damp with dark liquid. There sat Neron in his throne of bones on an elevated platform. He looked grim even for a demon. His face then lit up in a sinister smile as Raven and Kid Devil were brought in. It wasn't just the fact that the Gem of Skaath was finally in his grasp. Neron had only expected Raven. A bargaining chip had willingly walked in with her, to Neron's delight. To the two Titans, Neron's change of expression merely looked unsettling and eerie. To them, it meant that he had an evil plan ready to be executed. Indeed, he did.

"Welcome to the Infernal Provinces, Daughter of Trigon, Gem of Skaath." uttered the long haired blond demon.


	5. Trouble in Paradise

A brutish creature hovers outside the Chamber of Consignment, hesitating to step into the light where his master would see him.

"What is it Belial?" a booming voice demanded.

"M-m-m-master…" the creature began.

The booming voice yelled "Spit it out already Belial, I have no time for your insolence".

"Your Unholy Corruptedness, the royal guards from the Odium have heard the tortured speak of a resistance. They speak of rising against you, Lord Neron."

"Yes, I've heard. The Provincial Prophet warned me of his visions."

Belial the brute stifled a whimpering grunt, watching his master with worry in anticipation of punishment.

The Unholy Neron paid no attention to Belial, but instead stared off into the distance of his great hall. He was thinking, thinking of the vision told to him by the prophet moments before Belial showed up at the doorway to the Chamber. A new evil was rising. The vision showed an omnipotent red demon unleashing his outerworldly hoard on earth, ravaging the earth and remaking it in his image. Following, Neron would be slain and his throne usurped by two demons, one male and one female. They would come from Purgatory.

"Blaze and Satanus" uttered Neron in his deep voice, eyes narrowing in fury. A plan was beginning to weave itself in his mind already.

As for the bigger problem, the red demon referred to by the prophet was most likely Trigon, the destroyer of worlds foreseen by many seers, mystics and prophets as the one who would come to earth, sow his seed and cause the end of the world. That would ultimately also mean the destruction of hell included.

Neron was aware that three Azarathian sorcerers were lent the support of several demon kings, and the Lords of Chaos and Order. Even Jörmugandr the leviathan was involved. With the collective powers of good _and_ evil, the mages put up magical spell barriers to prevent Trigon's entry into this earthly plane. Jörmungandr encircled the globe with spells inscripted onto its scaly body as a first line of defence, ready to intercept the outerworldly evil god.

"Belial, summon Dagon. It's time we put the boy to some use. And bring me the one they call… 'Brother Blood' ".

* * *

 _ **Author's note:**_

 ** _*The events of this chapter takes place two weeks before Raven and Kid Devil were nabbed by the costumed stranger._**

 _ **Really, really sorry that i've been posting in such short chapters. I wanted to narrate in a way that makes each chapter a separate scene in the story. Take for example here, I decided to end with Neron's mysterious instructions to Belial, to set some suspense then continue the story in the next chapter. It will make more sense later on in the story once the puzzle pieces are put together.**_

 _ **And to Shigatsuraven, what I said about uploading in bulk I have to take back. Instead, i'll just post the chapters right after i'm done with them. I hope you are as excited as I am for each new release!**_


	6. To Deal with the Devil - Part I

**Chapter 6: To Deal with the Devil - Part I**

Raven merely stood calm and still before the Lord of the Infernal Provinces, with her facial expression remaining unchanged. The two guards who greeted the group at the gates and led them to Neron's chamber had left soon after Neron's welcome. It was just the four of them left in the chamber.

There was a long and unsettling pause before Neron moved to speak.

" _The Gem was born of Evil's fire,_

 _the Gem shall be his portal._

 _He comes to claim, he comes to sire,_

 _the end of all things mortal."_

After ending his citation, Neron let out a low, dark chuckle. "I have gone through hell and back; through such fuss to have you stand here before me, Raven." he said, before adding "Trigon's followers have tighter lips than those on a new corpse, but that does not hinder me from prying the truth from them". What Neron failed to say, was that he had quite graphically torn information out of Brother Blood's mouth. At least, he had given Brother Blood a painfully real illusion of his jaw being slowly torn out from his head, before Blood eventually caved under the mental torture.

And now Trigon's precious Gem was finally here standing before him. If the prophecy were to come true, she would be the one who opens earth's gates to Trigon the destroyer of worlds. Toying with Brother Blood gave Neron not only pleasure; it made the prophet's vision clearer in Neron's mind. Despite her delicate and slender frame, the girl standing in front of him was someone with dangerous power… if what Blood said was true. Raven would play a pivotal role in the havoc that was to ensue. You could even say that she was the beginning of the end. If she were _his_ daughter, he might have been proud. But she wasn't, and her existence threatened his and that of every other soul on earth.

Kid Devil's loud gulp brought Neron out of his thoughts and back to business. Unfortunately for Eddie, it also turned Neron's attention to him. Kid's face betrayed his emotions and Raven's efforts in keeping him out of Neron's focus. Kid could see a small, evil grin on the demon lord's face, and hoped profusely that Neron would not recognise him.

"Edward Bloomberg…" called out the blond demon.

Kid Devil's face felt pale although the colour of his red skin did not reveal it. He could see Raven turning her head slightly from the corner of his eye as he faced Neron head on, and could swear that she had a murderous look on her face. "Busted" he thought. His head felt light, and his skin cold and clammy.

"how is your beloved uncle Daniel?" Neron finished. The devil's grin widened.

Eddie thought to himself that Neron was just playing cruel games. "Just get on with it already…" he told the devil, in his mind. Surely Neron knew the answer to that question. Kid mentally went back to the moment he made the deal with Neron, and asked himself how he could have been so stupid. But whether he felt stupid for trusting the Blue Devil - Dan Cassidy, or for happily taking up Neron's offer, he wasn't sure. Kid still had to answer to Neron's question; it was unwise to be rude to his future master, nor was it wise to play dumb. It was possibly the hardest question Eddie had ever had to answer. Raven's eyes boring into him did not help. He opened his mouth and gathered the strength to summon his voice.

"We know you took a human prisoner. Tell me what it is you wanted me down here for." Raven interrupted, for which Eddie was indescribably grateful about.

"Clever girl." said the infernal lord in return. "I had you brought here to make you an offer you cannot refuse."

Raven was not surprised.

"A substitution of contractees. I will terminate my contract with the Kid Devil and release his soul from indentured servitude to me, if you agree to become my bride."

Now _this_ had Raven taken aback. Eddie's jaw dropped. And even Kyd Wykkyd seemed distressed - or rather, disgusted.

Neron revelled in the look on the children's faces, and answered their horror as if answering their prayers that what he said was not real. "Or perhaps, you would prefer the hand of my son Dagon here?" Neron quickly moved his glance from the girl to the non-Titan boy, who was now visibly vexed.

Raven and Kid Devil turned their heads, eyes opened wide at the indication that Kyd Wykydd was Neron's son. Raven had begun to boil inside, thinking that Kyd had lied about his mother being held captive by Neron when Neron was basically his own damned father and his mother was by extension the devil's wife. He had lied to her to give her a reason to go with him to his father's lair and figuratively dig her own grave.

"That's not part of the deal." Kyd rebutted, containing his frustration and anger.

"INSOLENCE!" yelled Neron. The torches in the room seemed to flare in tandem with his anger. "Have you learned no manners after all this time here?"

Kyd lowered his head, although his face still bore rebellious resentment.

* * *

 _ **Author's note: The next chapter will be an interlude and Chapter 8 will be Part II of "To Deal with the Devil"**_


	7. Interlude - Destined for Evil

**Chapter 7: Interlude - Destined for Evil**

 _ **Author's note: This is a flashback chapter, but also contains flashbacks within a flashback. On a side note, one of the characters (Karen Young) bears a name resemblance to a friend I know IRL but that's just a coincidence. Let me know if it does or doesn't feel like something from an animated Batman movie, because that was what I was going for. Well, let me know anything. Leave a review or a message, don't be a stranger!**_

* * *

Three weeks had passed since Karen Young went missing. A teenaged boy sat on a chair in the darkness with his head held down. The kitchen was lit only by the street lamps outside the sole window to the small apartment. The sound of sirens passed by; without the regular electronic screaches, it would be an eerie day in Blüdhaven.

The boy was thinking of his missing mother, and felt hopeless from his fruitless efforts to find her. The day before she disappeared, he had gotten angry at her for confronting him about the bat-costume she found in his room as she was cleaning it.

"Damon Young, what is this?" the boy recalled her demanding in a serious tone. He remembered feeling defensive at first, before something rose up within him. His first reaction was to rebel, as children at that age usually did. Looking back, it was a bad idea to go there, and he regretted it now. Something else bubbled up and out of his mouth instead of a snarky remark. There was a moment's hesitation, but he let it out and growled. The boy's eyes flashed blood red, and both occupants of the small apartment felt the room quake, and the lights flash on and off before bursting.

The last thing he remembered her saying was "Damon, this isn't you. You're a good boy. You're my boy". He remembered how she embraced him, the kindness and understanding she showed him despite the horror that just happened. The boy remembered storming out of the building. He just wanted to get some fresh air, cool down and think about what just happened, but looking back he must still have seemed angry at her, walking out on her instead.

He remembered that when he got to the communal door, he heard a scream which sounded a lot like his mother's. When he ran back to check, she was gone. The curtains fluttering in the wind echoed the absence of a human being in the room.

This was the umpteenth time he recalled the night his mother went missing, and the boy felt frustration bringing tears to his eyes. This was becoming beyond desperate. He felt the frustration turn into madness, both in the sense of anger and insanity.

He kept asking himself why he had to get so angry at her right before she vanished. She did nothing more than act like a concerned mother, yet he reacted with unwarranted contempt. Why was he always so quick to anger? He pondered more about his temper in his regret; how bad things always seemed to happen when he lost his temper, like the time his school teacher stopped in the middle of writing a detention slip and suffered a thundering headache. And right before that, he was blinded by rage and fisted another student in the face until they bled for ridiculing his lack of a father.

Why did it always happen? Why was it so hard for him to reel in his temper? Thinking about it only intensified what he had always felt throughout his young life. The fury, the violent lust to cause hurt. Before he realised it, the room started to quake again. Only this time, more violently than before. The walls started to collapse around him. He started to sink into the ground which was swallowing him up. He felt himself falling and falling and falling endlessly, and his desperate screams to cling onto something to stop him from falling. Tears filled his face, and his face flushed red hot from the nightmare-come-true, before blacking out.

When he awoke, he felt the side of his clothes damp from something. He thought he fell into a puddle, and searched around to assess the situation, only to see a puddle of cold red blood, and in it was the image of a black face with glowing red eyes and a fanged snarl. Its eyes widened in sync with the boy's own as he let out a fearful scream only to be stopped short by a voice.

"Do you like what you see?" asked the voice from across the dark space. "I have been waiting for this moment to finally meet you, Dagon."

The boy looked up and saw that the voice belonged to a dark figure who was approaching him. His face was partially lit by a nearby torch on the wall of what looked like a cavernous hall. The light revealed a long-haired blond man in aristocratic dress.

"You were kept hidden from me for a long time. But the blood that runs through you was thick enough to lead you to me. Have you ever noticed that you cannot hold your temper? Ever felt the undying urge to tear things apart and drink the pain in others? Of course you have. You are the son of Neron. You are my boy," the figure said, his face twisting into a dark smile.

The blond man gave the boy an answer he had been looking for for three weeks. "I know where your mother is. I can get her back to you."


	8. To Deal with the Devil - Part II

**Chapter 8: To Deal with the Devil - Part II**

Kyd Wykkyd cooled down from his annoyance that his father dragged him into something he didn't want to be part of. All he wanted was to keep his mother safe. Were he to step out of bounds again, he would send her into sure danger. When his head was clear enough, he thought of the idea of Raven becoming his bride, and scoffed. Yet, his head flushed red and his ears felt hot. He already had a girlfriend - Angel, estranged as they had become. Whom, of course his father wouldn't care enough to know about because he didn't even care to know what the boy's life had been like up until the father and son introduction.

Meanwhile, the two Titans were still processing it all. Neron turned his attention back to Raven and allowed her time to respond. Eddie furrowed his eyebrows, stunned by the situation they were in. He could not possibly let Raven take the fall so he could keep his soul, but until now, he was so sure of his impending doom. This was an offer for redemption from the devil himself, unlikely to repeat itself again.

Raven's mind moved from the vileness of Neron's proposition to the details of whatever contract Neron had with Eddie. She wanted to speak but Eddie turned to her, and the way he widened his eyes seemed to beg her to say yes.

"By Neron, we are at an impasse, are we not?" the narcissistic blond demon swore by his own name, without having given them much time.

"Wait, I need more time. And I need to know what contract exactly you have with Kid Devil." she said in her haste.

"But of course. It was such a classic. He wagered his soul in exchange for some power." Raven turned back and glared at Eddie, wondering what could possess him to naively bet his soul to the devil, or what powers he even betted it for. Neron continued. "I offered him the power he so desperately desired to become the hero he dreamed of, and in exchange, his soul would be mine by the time he turned 20 years of age, should he lose his trust in his his beloved mentor the Blue Devil. And surely, he knew I was watching his every move." he said, implicating that he somehow knew Eddie had broken the covenant and lost.

As Raven looked down to the ground in thought, Neron snickered gleefully at his scheme, which surely would make Mephistopheles turn in his sleep with envy. The cruel demon clearly saw the looks the two guests were shooting each other, and said "You may step outside and deliberate if you so wish" before looking at Kid Devil and implying it meant the invitation extended to him.

The Titans walked out of the Chamber, leaving an unmoving "Dagon" behind. They could hear the threat in Neron's voice as they walked out, clearly lambasting the unfortunate child. "Defy me again, boy, and you will never hear from your mother again". As soon as Raven caught on, she lowered her head in guilt. Maybe Kyd wasn't lying about Neron holding his mother captive after all. Even Eddie frowned and felt sorry for the guy.

Raven started to share her thoughts "I don't understand the reason behind Neron's offers."

"Don't do it, Raven. Don't do any of it. He's the Prince of Lies. It doesn't matter why he wants those things. Whatever you do, he's only gonna find a way to be the only one who comes out top." Eddie surprised Raven with his newfound wisdom (or at least, this was the first time she witnessed it). "This was my mistake. And Blue Devil always said you have to take something bad and make it good. I'll find a way to fix this myself." he nodded and gazed at the large, arched doorway like he found the conviction to face his mistake.

"Eddie…" she called out empathetically, before searching her mind for a solution.

The both offers were too… momentous to say the least. The first option was absolutely not an option. Neron had to be the sickest of demons she had come across so far if he thought of something so wicked as preying on a child, even if a child born of evil, and even if he suggested it to make her insides turn as a jest.

The costumed boy she knew as Kyd Wykkyd was less repulsive, though it still didn't make him the right choice either. She never thought much about what she would do in Starfire's shoes when the Tamaranean sacrificed matters of the heart for a political wedding. As a friend, it was difficult to see the princess put her happiness aside for her people, but it never occurred to Raven that she could one day also be faced with the same dilemma.

The notion of love or affection or any other emotion for that matter, was never really an option, let alone a possibility. Feelings were dangerous. Emotions would awake the part of her that was Trigon. But that fell in the wider scope of it all; Neron was only suggesting a marriage, his words said nothing more and nothing less. She damned Neron for using such short words. The ambiguity of the terms was his boon. Unless… she used it as a double-edged sword and swung them to her favour. But when you're dealing with the devil, you can never expect him to play fair.

"We should go back inside. He's expecting an answer and I doubt he's going to wait patiently for too long." Raven told Eddie. Her calm composure had Eddie convinced that she made up her mind. But then again, Eddie knew her enough to know she was never one to show any emotion. Soon enough, the two were back in the chamber, back in front of the demon in his ludicrous green and white apparel.

"Make me another offer. Something with less permanent effect." Raven said cooly.

"Very well then. Here is my third and final offer. You are free to accept any of the three alternatives I am giving you. For Edward's soul, I will take you to your dearest father who has been waiting for you." Neron held a poker face.

Although Trigon was the last person she wanted to be around, she would at least know how to deal with her father. There was a chance that her infernal father was going to effect the prophecy and raise hell on earth once he gets a hold of the portal, but she had been running from her father for a long time. Enough to know she could find a way to escape, and since Neron said nothing about ensuring she stayed put after delivery, there was a small window of opportunity. She could not even care how Neron would react but enjoyed the idea of outsmarting the tempter. It was settled; being taken to Trigon would be her choice.

After Raven pleaded the third, Neron tells her in the same way he first sowed doubt in Kid Devil's heart, that he had made an arrangement with her father. In return for retrieving his Gem, evil incarnate allowed a trade; the son of Neron to be joined in union with his own daughter whom he thought expendable at the point she fulfilled her destiny as his gateway to earth. Neron's plans were so twisted, that no matter what Raven chose, Neron was going to have his day.

* * *

 _ **Author's note:**_

 _ **I'm starting to think I might have based this Raven's behaviour and speech too much on the one from the Teen Titans Go! TV show. Also, if you didn**_ _ **'**_ _ **t already know by now, Kid Devil is a character from the comics, and so is Neron. If you haven't read the comics or read about them yet, but want to know more where you can read about him, Kid first appears as a human on the Teen Titans in Volume 3 issue #30 (Jan 2006) prior to joining the Titans, and later as a Titan in issue #34 (May 2006). His bargain with Neron is shown in issue #42 (Feb 2007). In hindsight, since i'm now marking spoilers, Chapter 1 contained a huge spoiler, but I can't take it back now because it's been out for days and enough people have already viewed it. I can only beg your forgiveness if I've spoiled the comics for you.**_

 _ **For a while, I was boxed in because I had Neron give an ultimatum I couldn't even decide an answer for without turning the situation cheesy. So I got help with what Raven herself would choose (again, because my characterisation was blurred by the many incarnations of Raven). I kind of regret complicating the chapter, but it does play an important role for the future of the plot.**_


	9. An Intruder Calls

**Chapter 9 - An Intruder Calls**

Back in Titans Tower, Cyborg sat a platter of his specialty hamburgers and a plate of roughly scrambled tofu down on the dinner table at 6 p.m. Gar Logan, a.k.a. Beast Boy lounged in the living room a few steps away, playing a video game on the large screen TV. The half robot was beginning to ask when Raven would be back, before a black portal opened near the entrance to the common space. "Right on time" Cyborg thought with a small smile.

Out of the portal walked the familiar girl in her blue cloak, and… a member of the Hive Five. Simultaneously, the Changeling and Victor Stone dropped their jaws at the sight in comical fashion, yelling in disbelief. Eddie followed behind out of the portal, hunching over like he had a particularly awful day, because his face said just that.

"Cy, Beast Boy, you know Kyd Wykkyd." Raven said in rhetoric, before turning to give Kyd a reassuring look that she was introducing him as posing no threat, and also to ease his discomfort as well as her friends'. Her hood cast a shadow over her the top half of her face, but those Amethyst eyes of hers still glistened. The proximity and her considerably soft gaze made Kyd uneasy; he truly did not know how to react to the change. So sure was he of the paradigm shift in the way she looked at him now, from how she normally seemed during fights - despite her renowned unchanging expression, that he felt like he was standing beside a different person. All of a sudden, his eyes saw a girl stuck in a lousy circumstance; not just a Titan; not just an opponent. In front of him was a someone who had gone to hell and back. And for that, he gazed back at her in amazement - for her ability to appear so calm and collected despite everything that happened and everything that was to come. The moment he realised he was staring, his body turned to stone and his skin was hot to the touch.

In no time at all, the Ravager and Wonder Girl stormed in to see what the commotion was about, before stopping abruptly to hold up their fists and for the latter, a sword, in preparation for combat.

"You've sure got some guts to be breaking into the Tower, you weirdo." said a casually mean Ravager.

"Relax. This is Kyd Wykkyd. He's with us." Raven announced to the newcomers in the room. Several confused faces in the room prompted her to elaborate a version of the truth. "Something came up in the supernatural world. Kyd Wykkyd is going to be staying with us for a while. He'll crash in my room so I can watch over him."

The faces did not cease to express confusion and bewilderment. Kyd himself was somewhat taken aback by the last part. Eddie however, was still sulking from his guilt.

The boy in the bat-costume reflected back to before the trio teleported there, and remembered that Raven insisted the two boys not say a word to anyone about what happened in the underworld. It wasn't so much of her insisting as it was them having no real choice in the matter.

But while Neron commanded that Kyd escort the girl to ensure she would not attempt to conveniently disappear when the time came to travel to Trigon's world, he never said that they had to inhabit the same room to rest. Though, it made sense that he would have to be in the same room to be able to keep watch.

She was still going to have to be taken to Neron - only not so soon. Unfortunately for Neron, the turmoil which developed amongst Trigon's followers became a roadblock to Raven's performance of her part in their contract. It occurred to the demon lord only after Brother Blood's displacement from his position as fearless leader of the Church of Blood, that he may have used more force than necessary to get information out of the rat. The gateway to Trigon's hellish world would not be opened for another week.

Although Raven had explained that she wanted the other Titans kept in the dark about the secret trip to the Infernal Provinces because she didn't want them to involve themselves, Kyd Wykkyd could not help but wonder if she was also hiding her embarrassment at the whole situation; at him. Even quiet villains with demonic heritage have feelings. What Kyd felt, was a small ache surging through his chest and head at the thought of her going to such lengths as to keep him as near her as possible just so she could keep the secret.

The same puzzlement at Raven's decision to keep the H.I.V.E. Five villain in her room ran through the minds of the other Titans in the room, all save Kid Devil, who was well versed with what was going on. Beast Boy in particular, felt a strong urge to protest the arrangement. He was unsure why or when he started to feel protective of the girl, but he did. At the very least, having a known enemy share the same quarters as her, was plain stupid.

The green changeling voiced his thoughts "Raven, you can't be serious! He almost hurt you the last time we fought the Brotherhood of Evil!".

"I know. But like I said, something came up." she said, shooting him a stare which he knew very well meant she would speak about it no further.

When the Titans had stared long enough, Raven said "I'm going to help him settle down now", later walking some steps towards the door and paused to turn, waiting for Kyd to understand her signal to walk with her.

* * *

Elevator rides are uncomfortable for most people who cannot stand being in a quiet enclosed space with one or more strangers for an extended period of time. But for two acquaintances who lived silently, this was a first. A first where silence was uncomfortably deafening.

There was an undeniable elephant in the room, which Raven didn't seem to want to talk about judging by the simple fact that she _didn't_ talk about it. Kyd could only converse with himself about the strange space between themselves; and if Kid Devil weren't so self-absorbed with his slump, he might have consoled him with his own story.

"Are we really going to have to be married?" he asked himself. He had only been around Neron for under 2 months, but he knew for a fact that his father meant business; his threat about sending Karen into a fiery pit was very much real. For now, she was safely stowed in a crystal ball kept with other poor souls who were contained after losing their bets with Neron. But, he had seen Neron crush one of the fragile balls in anger and there was no telling that Neron would not do the same to his mother. Besides the tormenting fear of getting his mother killed, or worse, subjected to the tortures of hell, the dark boy thought of how long it had been since he had seen Angel. He wondered if she felt resentful for his unexplained, almost 2 month-long absence, or where they even stood in terms of their relationship. How Angel felt was one thing; explaining Neron's arrangements was going to be an entirely separate nightmare of its own.

Only too many thoughts plagued him, but Raven seemed unbothered until she closed the door behind her once they were inside her room, and sank onto the floor, letting out a grunt which surprised Kyd. It appeared that they day's events did take a toll on her after all. Two soft alabaster hands were now covering her face and what looked like four red glowing slits which he made out to be eyes. The extra pair of eyes didn't disturb him; in fact, he felt somewhat comforted at the sight of it, at the sign that he wasn't alone. He wasn't the only one stuck in a rut, and he was't the only one who had a frightening demonic form. But he was not about to bring that up and ask her about her eyes when she was already visibly displeased.

"You okay?" he asked, informally but at the same time, with reservation stretching his voice.

She answered "I'll be fine", nuancing either a statement that she would eventually be fine, or that was current her state of being. Her short answer made him reluctant to prod any further, and added to the growing tension.

Fortunately for Kyd, Raven teleported somewhere else for the rest of the evening to meditate after handing him a blanket, a new toothbrush, some spare shirts and sweatpants belonging to Beast Boy, a single burger and glass of water from the dinner table earlier; and pointing out where the bathroom and the couch were. With her away, he didn't need to do or say anything to relieve the tension between them; no need to make small talk; no need to talk about Neron's bargain.

* * *

In her absence, Kyd wandered around the room, unable to pass off the opportunity of exploring the place with actual permission, although the limits of said permission were vague and in fact not described. For days, he had observed her from afar, learning about her habits and the right time to strike and bring her to Neron. Yet, he was faced with the fact that he knew little about her aside from her Titan status, her magical abilities, and the revelation that she was the daughter of that supposedly omnipotent red-skinned demon from another dimension. "Who knew? Looks like both of us have evil fathers." he scoffed to himself.

After a scan of the titles in her book collection, and a fleeting general sweep of the room itself, he made a satisfied slant with his lips and decided to prepare for bed, or… couch, before she came back. It would save him on any more awkward interaction for the rest of the night.

When Raven returned before bed, she spoke not a single word. The other halfling who pretended to be asleep could still hear her stepping in and out of the room through the darkness, presumably to change into her sleep clothes and to brush her teeth. Throughout the entire night, they exchanged less than five sentences. Kyd refused to say the first word, only to be shut down, and so he left the status quo alone. The enigmatic girl could be heard from his couch, nestling into a comfortable position in preparation for sleep.

Unbeknownst to the two as they both turned in for the night, several of the other Titans stood behind the bedroom door in hopes of catching a conversation that would shed light on whatever the hell was going on. "Several Titans" meaning the green changeling and the Ravager, who couldn't get anything out of Kid Devil. Suddenly behind them, appeared four more including Cyborg, Wonder Girl and Starfire, folding their arms with looks of disappointment on their faces. Disappointment at the two eavesdroppers. Robin had just returned from Gotham moments ago, and had been brought up to speed on the new house guest. The fearless leader began "Kyd Wykkyd may be a criminal, but if Raven says there's a reason he's here, we should respect her judgment. And Beast Boy, you've been on this team for long enough now, so act like it." And just like that, the crowd dispersed, and each Titan went to their own rooms, leaving Cyborg and Robin still standing in front of the door.

Robin's eyes were furrowed through his mask, as he spoke in a lower tone. "I hope she knows what she's doing." The mechanical man laid one palm on the Batman's protégé in assurance, or rather, in agreement.

* * *

 _ **Author's notes:**_

 _ **This chapter's title is a play on the play "An Inspector Calls" by J.B. Priestly. Aside from the unexpected house visit, there's absolutely no other connection otherwise to said literary piece. In hindsight, I feel a little regretful for not planning the chapter titles in advance; I missed the opportunity to name Chapter 8 "Betrothed", as a nod to Episode 3 of Season 3.**_

 _ **Have you noticed yet that most chapters are littered with puns and wordplay? Come on, don't make me laugh by myself.**_

 _ **In all seriousness, writing has been unexpectedly draining, and i've started to notice the tiredness cloud my judgment (I end up compromising character personalities and speech). If you're interested in co-writing or as they say "Beta"-ing, or just generally contributing ideas you would like to see in the story (which will actually fit in), drop me a message or comment in a review.**_


	10. No Rest for the Wykkyd

**Chapter 10: No Rest for the Wykkyd**

At the crack of dawn, Kyd Wykkyd felt a stream of annoying bright morning light trickle on his face through the gap between the window and the black curtains, and shifted his head away to continue his rudely interrupted slumber. It didn't matter to him that he might miss breakfast or that he should be up to watch Trigon's daughter as his duty dictated; his body felt so wrecked and heavy from the events of the past few weeks, that he gave himself a free pass. At this point, even a full-fledged demon would be willing to let a prey slip past just to snooze longer. Sleep beckoned like a lover unwilling to part from their embrace. As he was drifting in and out of consciousness, he either heard, or dreamed of sounds of sheets ruffling and feet shuffling from a distance. "She's up." he thought to himself sleepily, before succumbing to the gentle, alluring call of sleep. "15… more minutes, she… needs… bathroom anyways." he subconsciously excused himself from getting up.

There was no alarm set, but there were several disrupting noises which Kyd tried to block out by ignoring so he wouldn't have to get off the couch. There was a clanking sound of mental hitting porcelain or some other sort of china, and a collective thud as they hit the ground together. It nearly pulled him away from blissful unconsciousness, but he paid it no bother; he couldn't care less about anyone or anything since it was the first time in weeks since he had such an opportunity to recover his strength, and nobody was actually telling him to get up. By the time he did rise, he wasn't sure what time it was or how long he had slept, but guessed that the clanking sound might have been a while ago.

Through his overly rested eyes and sickening feel of swelling in his head, he could see the figure of a girl sitting upright on the bed facing him, so he rubbed the sleep off his eyes to see if Raven finally had something to say. Instead of the Mistress of Magic, it was a girl with some sort of cloth wrapped around the upper half of her face with only one hole to see through. She was the girl from the night before; the Titan who called him a weirdo.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty." she said with almost friendly sarcasm.

Taking a closer look at her, he noticed that her uniform was vaguely familiar. It had been years since then, but he remembered a man with a similar costume who had visited H.I.V.E. Academy to recruit apprentices. The orange and black, the single open eye. Perhaps this girl was the man's new apprentice - he thought. But what would she be doing here?

Seeing her half-exposed face, and the pretty lips she had, made him realise that he hadn't had the time to put on his own mask which he had taken off in the night before going to sleep.

"Raven went out to meditate this morning." she said, before tilting her head in gesture, guiding him towards the tray on the floor. There wasn't much on it, just a bowl of dry cornflakes with a spoon in it, and a glass of milk. "Your girlfriend left you breakfast. Isn't she sweet?" she said sarcastically again. At the word "girlfriend", Kyd felt the blood rush to his head, which he hoped wasn't visible. His forehead arched in menace.

"She's not my girlfriend" he denied outright, irritation showing in his rare voice. Technically, she was more than that. Technically, Neron had plans for them. Technically, she was his betrothed. Or at least, according to Neron. Which was, considerably more scandalous - but the Slade-clone didn't need to know. Raven wouldn't have wanted her to know either.

"Whatever," she said, without a care, before continuing "but don't play dumb with me. Kid Devil's been hiding in his room all morning. I know something happened with the three of you. Whatever it is, if you have something to do with Eddie looking like his puppy died, I swear i'll teach you things with my kiddie sword that I won't even know I can do." she held up a rectangular cassette-like device and pushed a button. A beam of energy shot out of the inconspicuous device, which made more sense of it. The object was some sort of energy-sword, which the Slade-copy-cat proceeded to wave around like a child would do with a rattler, or a thug would do with his switch-blade. She instilled intimidation as easily as Slade did, and Kyd would not be surprised if she were in fact Deathstroke's apprentice.

Without much else said, the apprentice got off the bed and stood up, saying "Eat up, princess", apparently done with their mostly-one-way conversation.

"Just had to wake up to a threat. What is the problem with these Titans?" Kyd fumed to himself, induced by crankiness. And technically, he was more of a prince.

Breathtakingly attractive though she was, she was like a Slade-bot made of flesh. On her way out, she seemed to stop at the door. Another figure was standing outside, at whose sight the Slade-clone seemed to brighten up. Even from afar, Kyd could see her side profile lift into a smile, and she started to move her hands. It looked like she was communicating in sign-language. After the figure signed back, the Slade-clone shrugged and walked off. From the couch, Kyd could see that the figure was man with blond, curly hair that grew down the sides of his face as a side-burn. He seemed gentle, almost lamb-like. His soft eyes added to that impression.

The blond man started to walk in the room, reaching into his pockets for a notebook and pen and writing something on it as he walked towards Kyd.

 _Welcome to Titans Tower_

 _I'm Jericho. It's nice to meet you._

Kyd read the note held out to him. This had to be the nicest Titan he had met in the tower so far. Kyd smiled appreciatively at the Titan, who continued writing.

 _Come join us in the lounge if you have time._

That wasn't much of a good idea, so Kyd just made another small smile and nodded softly, as if he meant he would consider the invitation.

Jericho held out a hand and waved, before turning around to exit the room.

"Does everyone come into Raven's room like this?" Kyd puzzled to himself.

* * *

After freshening up and putting on his costume before anymore Titans walked in and registered his civilian face to their memory, Kyd finally downed the plain cereal. Much like the big bad Bat himself, Kyd had a habit of covering himself with his cape. It felt like an impenetrable shield, only not so impenetrable; unlike the Batman's cape, Kyd Wykkyd's was not technologically enhanced saved for its sharp edges. In some ways, it could be said that Kyd held admiration for the Dark Knight, despite being a villain himself. The Bat was one protector who never hid behind a saintly, happy facade. Someone he could relate to.

Now that he was ready to start his day, he proceeded to think of a list of things to do. He had left H.I.V.E. rather abruptly once his mother went missing. When he remembered the other H.I.V.E. member who went M.I.A. and how the team begrudged her, visiting his friends in H.I.V.E. Tower was crossed off his list. Being in Titan's Tower made him feel so normal again (as far as normal goes for a demonic villain), that he nearly forgot his main objective. With Neron dictating his life at the moment, his sole purpose was to guard over the Gem of Skaath in preparation for delivery. Thinking back to the night before - when he left the dark Titan to teleport elsewhere to meditate out of sympathy for her plight, and his failure to wake up before she did in the morning, a sinking feeling began in his chest. When reality hit him that he had made a huge mistake, panic started coursing through him.

As if recognising his distress, an alarm sounded throughout the tower. After a second's thought, he realised that it was just their crime alert system at work.

"Titans, trouble!" a boy's voice yelled through the announcers.

Unsure what to do, Kyd stepped out of the room and made a decision to join the assembling group, hoping to find Raven there. She was his mission, and this time he would keep both eyes on her. Although he wasn't told to ensure she was unhurt, it was only logical that she would be of no use to Trigon _or_ Neron if she were dead. In which case, at least one of them would probably like to skin him alive for starters.

Upon reaching the command centre, he could count Wonder Girl, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire, Kid Devil, Jericho and the Slade-bot. The leader himself looked focused on the control panels, staring attentively at the screen. But the cargo he was responsible for, was nowhere to be seen. Just as he was about to resume the panic from seconds ago, the Gem's signature black portal opened and out she came, late to the party.

"Titans, there's been an attack at the S.T.A.R. Labs building downtown. Security footage shows it's the H.I.V.E Five," the large screen in the command room flashed to a greyish video depicting what was left of the H.I.V.E. Five, along with another girl, with wings covering the length of her back.

All eyes moved around the room, before landing on the unfortunate Kyd Wykkyd. He felt their stares of suspicion and distrust, and on some, looks of confusion. Responding in his immediate defence, he held out two hands in surrender, shaking his head several times like a child denying their guilt.

Robin broke away from the screen to look around him at the faces of confusion and quiet discontent on the faces of his teammates, and said "We'll talk about _that_ later. For now, we have to stop the H.I.V.E. Five. Titans, go!"

Everyone seemed to dart in the same direction, and it took Kyd several moments before he could decide to follow suit, unsure if he should. His slowness was owed more to the fact that he would be following them to face his teammates and Angel, which he dreaded more than the cold treatment from several of the Titans so far. In spite of that, he could still feel the cruel iciness radiating from the green one and the Slade-bot who gave each other conspiring looks. Even Kyd could tell that they were silently communicating with each other about how Kyd didn't belong.

Unsurprisingly, Kyd slowed down, before the weight of what he saw dragged him down to a near halt. His responsibility over Raven wasn't enough to motivate him out of his personal dilemma and hurt, and soon enough, he caught Robin's attention. The Boy Wonder could see the hesitation in Kyd Wykkyd's steps.

Robin didn't want to doubt the stranger in his home and make him feel unwelcome, but Batman had taught him well on being cautious. This was a known H.I.V.E. Five member, and Robin was not about to leave the stranger alone in the Tower while the stranger's teammates were rampaging elsewhere in the city. Ironically, the person he had to exercise his judgement on, made him think of the mentor who taught him his detective skills. Out of focus, the costume, bar Kyd's mask, coupled with the dark looming and silence, made him look like a cheap copy of the Dark Knight. Or from another perspective, it was a mockery of the justice that Batman stood for. But whether or not the villain's costume was a coincidence, was a matter to be discussed another day. Right now, they needed to get to S.T.A.R. Labs.

The Boy Wonder chose his words carefully, and decided on a gentle "come with us." which to his luck, Kyd Wykkyd responded to willingly.

* * *

Heavy automated doors slid open with a swanky electronic swoosh. S.T.A.R. Lab's mechanical product storage basement was a labyrinth of electronics, ranging from bionic hearts, to a Prototype Thought Materialiser licensed from a subsidiary of Dayton Industries. On a usual day, there would be two security guards patrolling the outside of the room, but on this day, a computer genius had managed to crack open the security codes to the room while his partner immobilised the two guards using a hypnotic display, sending them into a state of temporary mindlessness.

"Man, Billy Numerous should'a come down here. We could'a grabbed all this stuff in no time." said a Cyclop-tic boy to his colleague, a small boy-genius harnessed to a mechanism on his back which spread out into the form of six massive spider legs.

"We have a plan. Mammoth and Boonie Boy upstairs as our muscle, Angel stays with them to make sure they don't fall for any stupid tricks, and we're the stealth team. Stick to the stinkin' plan." said the spiteful smaller boy. He continued to remind his colleague about their mission "Grab whatever you want but just remember we have to find the stupid magical dust detector so Angel can find her stinkin' good-for-nothin' boyfriend. None of you butt-for-brains had the guts to plan a heist since witch-girl ran off, and we need to keep Angel happy so there'll be at least two people with brains on the team." What he had referred to as a "stupid magical dust detector" was really a Mechanised Energy Tracer, also a prototype put into storage because of obsolescence in a widening world of Metahumans and magical beings with abilities to locate certain things and certain people.

A moment later, Gizmo had managed to find the aisle category for the one mandatory item on their procuration list, after searching for its serial identification number on the offline localised S.T.A.R. Labs database - which he also hacked into. Having little time left before the authorities arrived, he looked to his immediate left and right to see if there was any object which interested him, or could be useful for the gang's future plans. He smiled a wicked smile as he laid eyes on a remote-control shaped object, which he identified from the database as exactly a remote-control for weaponised drones kept in a separate, private location 214 miles north of the lab. With one mechanical appendage stretching out from the mechanism on his back, he grabbed the item and called out for See-More.

The H.I.V.E. stealth division crept back up to the lobby of S.T.A.R. Labs once they were content with their haul, and rejoined the rest of the team.

"Come on, we got the goods. Let's bolt!" shouted Gizmo.

The millisecond of greed on Gizmo's part had cost them; the Teen Titans had just arrived on the grounds and were standing at the main entrance. Mammoth, 5 Billies, and Angel had stood so eerily still, that it reached through Gizmo's inability to comprehend their lack of sense of urgency.

"Give up, H.I.V.E., give up what you stole and we'll let you get in the Police vans with your dignity." said the virtuous Titan leader.

Upon seeing a familiar face amongst the enemy team, Gizmo had to blink several times to be sure he wasn't seeing a ghost. Angel stood silent. The tech-whiz said the first word from their side "what the hell are you doing with them?" His occasionally humorous spitefulness was now fully cold and resentful.

Angel stepped slowly forward to her beau, as if to see if the boy was real. The Titans flinched when she got close enough to their side of the unspoken fence, and Ravager drew two of her swords to enter into her fighting stance, and Starfire held out one hand to charge it with Starbolts. Robin held both of them back with all his available arms, telling them without words to stand down.

The winged girl placed two hands on her boyfriend's face, to touch him, to affirm that he was truly there.

Kyd wasn't sure what face to put on for her or for his H.I.V.E. teammates. They hadn't seen him in nearly 2 months, and he never explained he was going away for a while, not to them, not even to Angel. And here she was, her hands on him. Without speaking to her, he could tell that she had been through hell although in a metaphorical sense, while he had been to the literal hell.

The dark boy had always been known to be quiet, but his silence in this situation had become intolerable, especially to the people who had been looking for him for months.

Angel searched his face for answers, at first longingly, before tears fell down her face and her face curled into one of despair and agony. Kyd felt a sharp whack on his left cheek as Angel lifted her hand away for a moment, before returning it to the surface she was touching. The place she hit started to pulse and sting with invisible fire.

Tension was clear on every face in the lobby as the room fell silent. Even Beast Boy resisted his natural urge to poke fun and jokes at every opportunity. The two teams seemed to forget what they were doing, instead focusing on the suspenseful drama at hand. Cyborg had mentioned ages ago when he infiltrated the H.I.V.E. facility about the people he had met, which included Angel and Kyd Wykkyd. Him being Raven's company was without answers, and even more puzzling was the fact that Raven openly announced he would stay in her room, which left them with a question of why. Few had suspected that they had low-key become a couple, others respected her privacy and didn't think of the reasoning. H.I.V.E. on the other hand, knew of Angel's desperate attempts to search for her boyfriend who had all of a sudden without explanation appeared in front of them, with the enemy team.

"You don't even know. You… do you know what I went through to find you?" the winged girl cried, her voice breaking. "We did all this. I did this, for you. I thought you were dead." she raised her hands to shoulder-level, gesturing around her. She sobbed, with heavy inhalation, looking like a wreck in front of everybody. It was embarrassing.

"Couldn't you have called me? Left a note? A text? How can that be so hard?" she raised her voice, and her composure completely fell apart.

Kyd maintained his neutral expression, in hopes that it wouldn't cause a stir in either team. To smile to his friends would implicate him as still being in league with a team that had just been caught robbing a facility in broad daylight and complicate his life even more than it had already become. Doing so still wouldn't pardon him from his unexplained absence from his group; given, they had the right to be angry at him for leaving without word in the first place. Not showing his allegiance would mean throwing his friends and girlfriend under the bus, standing aside idly as they get apprehended. Unlike with Kid Devil and Raven, Kyd's dilemma contained no way out without losing. There was nothing he could do to save himself, save his friends, his relationship. Neron was just too dangerous, his mother too important.

His lack of a reaction prompted Angel to shake her head in epic disappointment.

He chose the pragmatic route, remaining silent and unmoving as Robin broke the tension, moving to an unmoving Gizmo to cross his hands by the back in arrest. None of the H.I.V.E. resisted; they merely held their ground, in disbelief and quiet disappointment as Kyd's new team tied their hands behind their back, in wait for the Police to arrive and take them into custody, and only speaking when the sirens arrived. When they did speak, they spoke lowly and only to each other, their tone clearly about a certain traitor.

Of all the Titans, one was not moving to make arrests. Raven stood where she had been standing since the Teen Titans arrived. She stood inches in to the right front of Kyd Wykkyd. And Angel could see it. It didn't matter what the facts were; Angel had little patience and clear thought left to care. She saw Raven as the one behind her personal hell for the past two months.

"You bitch. I hope you're happy. I hope you're both happy. You can burn in hell for all I care." Angel commented for the last time with an ever breaking voice, full of bitterness and spite.

Raven tried her best not to react to those words. This wasn't supposed to happen. She was just trying to save Eddie's soul. It was clear to her that in doing so, she had inadvertently caused the end of someone else's relationship, even though it wasn't her decision to have Kyd stay by her side at all times until she went to Trigon. She had been trying all her life to be anything but what she was born to be. To be someone who brought the end to all life on earth.

Because she denied herself freedom of emotion, she was unsure what she was supposed to feel if she could. The only thing she allowed herself to feel, was pain. Not her pain alone, but the pain of all the parties hurt.

* * *

As the Titans finished up their day's work, Beast Boy let out a tired sigh and suggested they went for pizza, returning to his gleeful self at the thought of it. They had seemed to have gotten over the scene inside S.T.A.R. Labs, or they had just pushed it aside.

Feeling unable to join her friends in their after-work recreation, Raven gave an excuse to her friends who shrugged and walked off to the Pizza Parlour. She needed space and quietness, and so she decided to stand outside the building to feel the calm nothingness. Though, it was limited by Kyd Wykkyd's heavy presence. His lingering painfully reminded her of the consequences of her actions. Even so, she didn't want to be completely alone at a time like this. She turned back to him and gave him a meaningful look, as if asking him how they would go on from here. Neither had answers, only questions and pain, which they could gather from the look on each other's faces.

Disturbing their short moment of peace, walked a young man in black tunic towards them from a distance, holding a stack of papers on his hands. He handed Raven a flyer which she accepted out of politeness, smiled, and then walked away.

Raven took a look at the flyer, ready to roll her eyes at what she thought was about some bees in Canada that needed saving. It wasn't. It read:

 _Trigon is coming - A Sermon by Sebastian Blood_

She tore the flyer apart with her telekinesis, and stared contemplatively into space.

* * *

 _ **Author's note** **: This update took a while. But I didn't want writing to become a chore, so I took my time. This chapter would have been out two days ago if I didn't decide to save and relocate half of it for later on. I.e. half of this chapter was not the original end to this chapter I had planned. I thought I had to re-read the comics to make sure character behaviour and speech and "historical events" were accurate but that would take me at least 2 months just to read through all volumes and rewatch the cartoon from S1E1. So i'm just winging it on the basis of this being a different Earth in the multiverse. But fair warning that the next few chapters will borrow plenty of elements from the comics and cartoon.**_


	11. Nevermore

**Chapter 11: Nevermore**

The roof of Titans Tower has always been a special place; somewhere almost every Titan has been to, to watch the sun rise and set, or to gaze at the moon and the stars, deep in conversation, or solitary contemplation.

Kyd Wykkyd was no Titan, but the rooftop extended its friendship to him likewise. The cold October night air offset the harshness of what lied underneath his skin. It was like water being poured over fire. He took a deep breath of air, and held it in for 5 seconds, thinking it would somehow ease the pulsing swells inside like ice on a bruise.

It didn't really work, of course. The thoughts he had been repressing for most of the day were starting to bubble up, ready to explode. He allowed himself a few tears, still stifling the full show with sniffles. His jaw moved, protruding and retracting, as he tried to gather himself back together.

He had snuck away from the theatre room in Titans Tower early as they started watching Captain Carrot the animated motion picture, thinking that the dark would surely mask his absence. In his overwhelming grief, he forgot that there was one Titan on the team who could sense emotions and distress empathically without visuals.

It wasn't long before he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. He dithered to face the owner of the hand, knowing that no matter who it was, he didn't want them to see him in the state he was in.

"I can take away the pain, if you let me." a monotonous voice said. Despite the tone, the empath's face showed genuine sympathy.

Kyd wavered perplexedly, forgetting again that the girl had healing powers. When he was studying her, he once saw her lay her hands on a victim of a corrosion attack caused by Plasmus, whose wound closed up as though they were never injured.

He lowered his head to consider the proposition, before turning back up to answer her, nodding slowly with resolve.

Raven closed her eyes, and Kyd took a breath anticipating some measure of pain. She chanted "Great Mother of Azarath, I beseech thee, take this pain and give it unto me." and he felt the weight lift off him, and a wave of relief wash over him.

"Better?" she asked.

He pulled the sides of his lips up, and nodded tiredly.

"Good. Now let's get back to the movie room." she said, giving him a rare smile.

* * *

"I told you we should've just watched The Terminator! Captain Carrot was a flaming pile of crap!" Ravager pointed an accusing finger and yelled at Beast Boy as the credits started to roll. Eddie sank into his chair in between the two not wanting anything to do with the argument that was forming, as Beast Boy rose up to challenge Ravager.

"There they go again" said Wonder Girl to Robin who sat next to her, looking bored of their antics. "Rose, it was Garfield's turn to pick a movie this week. We can just watch The Terminator next week." she rolled her eyes to Robin before turning to reason with the short-tempered Ravager.

Robin said not a word, and just shrugged as he picked the last scrap of popcorn from his bowl.

"I'd have to side with Rose on that one. Green Genes just doesn't know quality action when he sees it." Cyborg turned his head from the screen to give a secret-baring smile to Starfire, who was shaking her head and beginning to rise up to walk over and break up the childish quarrel.

"You just want to watch Terminator because that's your evil dad's codename!" Beast Boy refuted. "Captain Carrot is a classic!" he continued.

"Real nice. You didn't have to bring my dad into this conversation. That was low, jerk face." Ravager grumbled and pointed her middle finger out to a now visibly remorseful dip-eared Beast Boy, then stormed out of the movie room.

"Well, at least we didn't miss much" Raven turned and said monotonously to Kyd Wykkyd who sat next to her shrugging. This of course, caught Robin's attention. The well-trained detective noted when Kyd Wykkyd stepped out of the room about a quarter way into the movie, and that Raven followed soon after. Robin could breathe a little easier after the incident at S.T.A.R. Labs; after seeing Kyd Wykkyd stand back as the Titans brought down the hand of justice on the guilty H.I.V.E. members. There was never a clear statement, and what he saw was insufficient evidence for Robin to fully trust Kyd Wykkyd around the tower, but as long as Raven was supervising the stranger, Robin let it slide.

Robin inconspicuously stuck his ear out for key words from the newly secretive dark duo. It wasn't that he was listening in because he suspected they were conspiring a plan together; it was because Raven seemed all-too-quickly taken to Kyd Wykkyd, or at least, she seemed to be less unfriendly with him than she would be to any other member on the team. She was known to keep everyone at arm's length, and even Robin's own bond with Raven didn't measure up.

The Boy Wonder looked at the floor, realising that he was being slightly jealous, and wrong to feel that way when Kyd's being there was having a positive effect on his friend. It was unlike him to doubt - doubt was something Bruce was more used to employing. Still, he felt he needed to look out for Raven; to prevent another Rorek-Malchior incident from ever repeating.

Having ended their movie night, everyone stood up, with some yawning, and left for their respective rooms. Robin didn't manage to catch what he was looking for, and Ravager was still sour from having wasted an hour and fifteen minutes on a silly cartoon movie. Everyone else seemed content with their evening.

* * *

It must have been around 2 a.m. when Kyd awoke covered in sweat despite the Autumn chill, hearing a female voice whispering gibberish in his ear. He looked around the unlit room to investigate if the voice was real, but found nothing. But he did notice that the nearby bed seemed flatter than usual, so he got up to sate his curiosity. Raven wasn't there. "Probably in the toilet or somewhere else" he thought.

He rubbed the sweat off the sides of his face and stumbled through the dark room to look for a glass of water.

On his way past Raven's bedpost, he heard the etherial whisper again. He pinched himself to be sure he wasn't having a lucid dream. It hurt. But more than that, Kyd became frightened. What scared him more than ugly, hellish creatures, was the unknown; the abyss; the unexplained. Having demon blood in him didn't mean he walked the earth without fear. Fear also follows demons.

Kyd waited for the whisper to return, deciding to follow it so it would lead him to an explanation.

The voice came back in intervals, and sounded like it was coming from one of Raven's chest drawers. He followed it there, and concentrated his ears on the unknown source. Oddly, it seemed to come from a gothic hand mirror in a style not unlike the rest of the objects in Raven's room. He held it up, and brought it closer to the windows for the moonlight to shed light on it, and in it he saw the same coal-black evil face from when he first fell into hell. Only now, he knew that it was his demonic form, which was usually brought out by unbridled rage.

The image began to warp, and swirl. Little did he know, he was being sucked into the mirror.

* * *

The next thing he felt, was not being able to breathe for some time, like his stomach was flattened and the air rolled out of him. He felt the impact in his head as well, but most of all, he felt the anguish of not being able to move his limbs. When he opened his eyes, he was lying on a dirt ground, certainly not anywhere in Raven's room or the Tower.

After a moment of waiting for the paralysis to end and for his nerves to return, he picked himself up and patted off the dirt, looking around him. It was empty and space-like, reminding him of a scene in Star Wars. The ground he stood on seemed to stretch on into a long and winding path, with nothing immediately visible ahead besides the stretch of pathway. With curiosity getting the better of him, he walked to the edge of the pathway, and looked to see what was underneath, or beside. There were stray shards and boulders of more rocks, but beyond that, he saw nothingness.

"Caw" a squawk come from behind. "Come come" it repeated, sounding more articulate. When he turned around, there was a large black bird with four red eyes, that looked like Raven's from nights ago. He blinked, and continued to look at it, bewildered.

"Come" it repeated, flapping its wings to lift its heavy carcass into the air. Kyd followed suit, keeping a distance between himself and the mysterious bird, as it led him along the long path.

They flew for no more than 20 minutes before they reached an old iron gate which took up the width of the pathway, and the bird took off above into the void realm, not at all waiting for him to chase after it. Just as Kyd was about to question what just happened, and why he followed the bird only to be abandoned in front of a dead-end, the gate creaked ajar. He paced towards the iron gate slowly, not knowing what laid behind the door, and seeing nothing immediately informative either. His hands paused before touching the gate, as he stood with another moment's hesitation.

A voice carried through but he could not make out the words. It was the same ethereal voice that beckoned him to the object that brought him here, but clearer, and more familiar. It sounded like Raven.

"Raven?"

"Hehe hahaha" she giggled.

Kyd Wykkyd gently pressed his hands against the full-faced gate, heaving it open. When he stepped through the gate frame, he found himself right back in Raven's room, standing in the doorway.

The room was unlit, just as it was when he left, but through the light of the moon, he could see silhouettes; Raven's bed, his couch at the end of the room, and all the regular furniture. The anomaly was the little light that reflected off a body of water which he made out to be a claw-foot bathtub in the middle of the room. Partially submerged in the water, was a figure.

The figure was creating small waves, which Kyd could hear through the sound of water lapping and sloshing.

"Raven?" he called out, to inform her of his presence, and also to genuinely ask what she was doing.

"Darling. Come over."

Kyd remained still, suspicious and cautious of what was going on; of why she was behaving so unusually. "What are you doing?" he asked.

The sound of water spilling over onto the ground told him that she was getting up. He turned his head to face the wall closest to him. The sound of lithe feet slapped gently against the floor, in Kyd's direction. He froze, once he felt slippery fingertips on the side of his face. A fleshy palm followed the digits, guiding his face back to what was in front. His eyes were shut tight as he submitted to Raven's direction, and let her hand shift his head.

Then he felt something soft pressing against his lips, painting a layer of moisture over them. He opened his eyes in surprise, to see a drenched Raven pulled back, dressed in black in spite of the darkness. He hadn't noticed before, but he felt damp cloth on the softer side of his hands; his arms were wrapped around her waist. He jerked away, gasping.

Raven worked towards him, her hands lingering around his frame, before settling on his shoulders, clasped together just at the back of his neck. She pulled him closer. Kyd was paralysed, stunned by what was happening but also reacting at the same time, blood boiling, skin flaring.

"Don't worry, this is just a dream. You can do whatever you want, and nobody would know." she tucked her chin down, to look at him dead in the eyes. Her eyes softened, as she deepened her stare. "You're seeing what you want to see." both her hands held his face as she brought herself in for another peck. She planted kisses down his neck and after unbuttoning his flannel shirt, his chest, digging deeper at his skin each time. He remained unmoving, neither refusing nor encouraging her, standing conflicted over how good it felt, and how wrong it was. Her warmth permeated through the wet clothes clinging onto her smooth supple skin. Her slender, soft hands almost glowed in the darkness; her hair flowed like silk; and her scent was unexplainably alluring - the kind that makes a person want to roll around in sheets perfumed by it, inhaling thoroughly. It was so enticing, so enthralling, that he didn't realise he was unconsciously sniffing her hair, until he felt his breathing impeded by her black locks; his nose brushing against the top of her head.

It took him much of his mental strength to fight the human nature he was at war with, before his walls finally crumbled and he slipped his arms across her back, closing the space between them. It was all so bizarre. "Just a dream" he thought to himself, lost in the heat of the moment, in surreality. When he did, he could feel her mouth curl into a smile which then went back to tugging at his bottom lip. The thought of it lifted his lips in return, partaking in the hedonism.

Before he realised where he was standing, her forceful hands had shoved him down and he fell back on the mattress of her bed. She continued to attack him with hot passionate lips, sucking heavily on the skin of his chest, nibbling only a tad, but enough to enflame the area she bit. It left his flesh burning, his lungs clawing for air, and his throat filling with his own saliva. He swallowed and moved his hands towards her shoulders.

"We should stop."

"Why? Because of Angel?" she paused, interrupted and slightly annoyed. The lithe girl resumed, slowly pinching his chest with her lips, tracing small circles on his shoulder, before looking up again "She left you - we all saw it. She doesn't love you anymore. She didn't love you enough to understand." she persuaded "But you and I, we make sense. We belong together. We're the same."

Her face started to change, and burned red. Four red eyes glowed, her teeth became fangs, and two bumps formed on her forehead above her eyes.

He shouldn't have been afraid of the sight, having lived in hell for several weeks and seeing hoards of hell spawn, but the girl in front of him took him by surprise.

"We are the same, you are my reflection" the demoness repeated, in a darker voice fitting for what she had become. "When I took away your pain, I saw flashes of your life, saw who you were, and now I know similar we are."

Kyd Wykkyd's eyes widened, but he failed to find the voice to sound his horror.

A third voice shouted from behind "NO!"

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" it continued, blasting Raven from behind, causing her to turn around.

"You." she narrowed her eyes, continuing in a forced sweeter tone "Don't worry, i'll share if you want. But you know, we won't even have to, if you just accept who you are." She cocked her head to the side in mockery, before leaping off the bed, towards the assailant.

In an instant, the room faded away, into the same bedrock from the space-like void earlier. Kyd saw that he was no longer lying on Raven's bed, but on a rock much like those he saw floating in the void earlier.

In the distance ahead, Raven's right hand transformed into a black, tentacle-like appendage, swatting at another figure in a similar cloak, a blue one; Raven's cloak. The one in black yelled "Why must you keep fighting me? You only postpone the inevitable." She whipped another tentacle at the other girl, missing again "Trigon _will_ rise and destroy this world."

He ran towards the two, recognising what he had to do, and shot a beam of energy at the monster dressed in black, who revolted in pain.

"Stop it! You should be helping me destroy her! Without her, we can truly be one and the same. We won't have to be lonely anymore" the red monster screeched, swatting its tentacles at him as well.

Raven in blue ran off to the side, as Kyd held the monster's attention. With enough space to meditate safely, she closed her eyes, and chanted "Azarath Metrion Zinthos" thrice, at which she burst into light.

"The world does not love us, Damon, but we do not need its love. We have each other." it made him stall his blasts for a second, as the red demon started to turn back to its human form. "Join me, we can rule this world - together." the red monster attempted to persuade Kyd Wykkyd. But the demon was stopped short by a blast of white light from the back.

"Not today." a white Raven emerged from the sidelines, using a line she heard her leader say at endless battles.

The white ray of light held black Raven on her knees. The ray expanded, swallowing her whole or rather, disintegrating her into a small shadow in the form of a bird. No amount of white light would completely destroy it, but the pain from the light was unbearable enough to reduce it down to a helpless creature. Raven bent down to pick it up as if it were truly a living bird, cupping it in her hands. She closed her eyes, and the bird melted, depleting into nothing as it was absorbed back into her body. When the last feather was gone, the white Raven's cloak and leotard changed into its usual blue and black.

She then turned to him and glared sharply, for the first time since he arrived as her guest. "What were you doing here?" she demanded.

"I woke up and heard a voice. Then I got sucked into this mirror." he said, defensively. "Is this a dream?"

Raven sighed, wishing it was. "No. This is real. This is where I come to meditate, to control my emotions, so _she_ doesn't take over."

Kyd's body stiffened, in horror of the events that unfolded since he heard the mirror call him. There was no way he could live down the things he did with the one in the black cloak he believed was Raven, in what he thought was a dream. Cold sweat broke out, as he grew icy from the heat of the action from a second ago.

Before he could explain, Raven proclaimed, "What you saw wasn't me. That was," she hesitated for a moment "… that was my soul. My demon essence."

She stretched out a hand, and opened a portal. "Let's go back to sleep." she tiredly motioned him in.

* * *

 _ **Author's note: Special thanks to new followers and likers! This has been by far, the slowest chapter to be written (I really did start the chapter the day I finished Chapter 9 - I hit a wall soon after), and definitely the raciest. The Nevermore half was written to the tunes of Without U by Beach Goons. We'll resume our usual vanille programme next chapter. See you soon!**_


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